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India is the world’s second fastest growing economy, but tops the list in largely failing to meet basic sanitation needs of its population of 1.21 billion. Every year according to official estimates about 1.5 million children die due to preventable and curable diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, chiefly due to an insanitary environment, the practise of open defecation being one of the prime contributors to this issue.

The Total Sanitation Campaign (Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan) initiated by the Government of India in 1999 aims to make India Open Defection Free (ODF) by 2017 and is considered a success in the areas it has reached. However the large scale provision of sustainable toilets is a hard aim to meet.

The Green Sanitation Foundation, an NGO based in Kolkata, India, has pledged to make the world ODF through eco-friendly, sustainable sanitation techniques.

Their pilot innovation, the Bio-Digester Tank forms the basis for this eco-friendly toilet. Using aerobic bacteria, this tank converts human waste into environment standard compatible water, which is used for flushing, or even for irrigation.

The process by which this toilet works is depicted by the flow chart.

The tank is basically a multi chambered structure, in which the waste falls into the first chamber, and moves through the other chambers while the bacteria works upon it, completely breaking it down into water. In areas without an assured electricity supply, the Enbiolet comes equipped with a solar panel.

For maintenance, a monthly kit comprising of a bio-media concentrate, a disinfectant tablet to cleanse the water before it is discharged and an environment friendly bio-cleanser, is issued. People are given thorough training on the maintenance process.

Amitava Mondal, Principle Founder Member, GSF, aptly describes this technology as “using things of nature to clean nature”.

Outcome/Benefits: The technology has introduced in villages and urban slums a cleaner, healthier way of life. Available in a range of models these bio-toilets can either be fixed structures or portable, the most basic “Enbiolet Solo” model costs about Rs. 25,000-30,000; they are preferred on construction sites which cater to a large transient labour population living without permanent structures. With an average lifetime of 10 years, these toilets are a welcome solution.

Commercially tested: Yes

Patent Details: In progress

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